BWW Reviews: THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, Upstairs at the Gatehouse, September 28th 2010

The Drowsy Chaperone has a bit of a cult following. After its West End flop - with a cast including Elaine Paige and the inevitable Strallen sister - its fans have bemoaned its failure in the UK, and there's been a great deal of excitement centring on this London fringe premiere. Is the hype justified?

Well, in a word, no. Siobhan McCarthy makes a wonderful Chaperone, playing the humour beautifully and belting out her torch songs with aplomb. It's a shame not all the cast match up to her. Ashley Day and Amy Diamond are physically gorgeous juvenile leads, but neither seems to be all that comfortable at playing comedy (though Day's dancing is worth watching). In addition, Diamond was nigh impossible to hear in speech or singing, except for the odd note where she wielded a marvellous belt.

Speaking of the physical beauty of young Mr Day, the Man in Chair's admiration for Robert Martin's matinee idol work came across here simply as creepy and somewhat priapic. His love for musicals isn't joyous; it's sad, isolating and just a tiny bit weird.

And speaking of Mr Day's dancing, the choreography by Legally Blonde's Fabian Aloise is disappointing bearing in mind the relatively large space they have to work in, with contrived, uninspired routines filling what is actually a really clever set design. With seating around two sides of the stage, blocking the show must have been a nightmare for director Racky Plews, but sightlines from my seat were obstructed on several occasions, which surely should have been picked up in rehearsal.

There are one or two gimmicks that weren't quite to my taste - Trix's two appearances, for example, and Tanya Robb's ridiculously high-pitched Kitty - but that had others rolling in the aisles. On this press night, the seats were full of casts' friends and family, making for a rousing reception, and also for a forgiving crowd when the show started 15 minutes late due to the house opening being delayed (I was rather less impressed by the general milling about, but then I'm impatient).

In short, this is a great opportunity wasted.

Addendum (September 29th, 11pm): Since seeing and reviewing The Drowsy Chaperone as above, it has been brought to my attention that an acquaintance of mine was previously attached to the creative team. I did not know this before seeing the show or writing the review, but I am highlighting this at the earliest possible opportunity in the interests of transparency and to avoid any suggestions of conflicts of interest.

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